Branson aims for eight flotations

SIR RICHARD Branson is poised to woo the City for the first time since the mid-1980s with plans to float at least eight companies from his Virgin business empire.

In a U-turn from Virgin's previous stance on going public, the flagship airline brand is slated for flotation as early as 2004-5, in a move that would also see him step down as chairman.

He is understood to be proposing to dilute his stake to as little as 30%, provided a controlling shareholding could be maintained by certain London-based institutions. Branson pledged as recently as last autumn that nothing would persuade him to part with his 51% controlling interest.

Overall, the planned moves, to be implemented over the next eight years, could add as much as £2bn to the £1.3bn that Branson has raised in the past three years by selling off chunks of his business empire.

In an interview with the Financial Times, he said: 'I would step down as chairman of any company we take public in future. There would be no place for me on the board, both for reasons of good corporate practice and personal time management. My skills are more in creating and building companies.'

Virgin Group spent a troubled two years on the Stock Exchange in the mid-1980s before Branson took it private again, complaining that the City was short-termist and misunderstood him. Virgin Express, the Brussels-listed European airline, is the only public company in the empire.

Virgin Atlantic is to create 300 new jobs as passenger numbers pick up following the post-11 September downturn. Virgin axed 1,300 jobs last autumn, with about 100 staff also taking unpaid leave. The new posts - 200 cabin crew and 100 reservations and other office-based staff - follow an increase in services to destinations such as New York, Lagos and Shanghai.